"Throttle, you can't keep avoiding Torque," Carbine said to Throttle in her private living quarters. "You've hardly spoken to her since we came back to mars." They both were standing on Carbine's balcony, which overlooked the Garden of Hope.
"Don't you think I know that," Throttle snapped at Carbine. He sighed deeply after his outburst. "I'm sorry babe," he said to Carbine in apology as he put his hands on both of her shoulders. "It's just so overwhelming you know. We all believed that Torque was dead and she's been alive all of this time. I just keep thinking about how I've failed her…"
"Throttle, you didn't fail her," Carbine said to Throttle firmly. "You did your best to keep her safe. You always volunteered for the most dangerous missions so that she would be out of harm's way. Patrolling that village was thought to be one of the safer missions. No one ever expected that the rats would blow it up."
"You avoiding Torque right now is really hurting her," Carbine explained to Throttle. "After all she's been through on that moon; she really needs as much support as she can get, especially from her brother."
"Believe me Carbine, I know that. I just can't get beyond the 'what ifs' in my mind. I just feel like that I could've done more after the explosion to find out what really happened. We never searched the site thoroughly. If we had, maybe we could have found some clues that would have indicated that Torque was still alive."
"Throttle, you can't keep beating yourself up about what happened to Torque. Even if you would have found something that proved that she was still alive, you wouldn't have known where to find her. No one knew that the rats were selling us mice into slavery on Plutopia until after the war ended. We would have never known if it had not been for Jupitus bringing survivors back here from that rancid moon."
"The important thing is that we found her and that she's still alive. She needs you now, Throttle. It's unfortunate what happened but it's in the past. We cannot change what happened but you have the power of a second chance with your loved one. Some of us are not so fortunate. It looks like Vinnie just barely did get a second chance with Harley."
Carbine sighed. "I think that we should go back to the lab. The medics told me that Harley's vital signs have been steadily weakening throughout the day. At this point…"
Carbine was interrupted by the sound of the head medic calling her name from the vidcom in her living quarters.
Carbine quickly went back into her living quarters, followed by Throttle.
"Carbine here, what is it," Carbine asked the medic once she reached the vidcom.
The medic sighed sadly. "I hate to tell you this but Harley just passed away a few minutes ago. I'm sorry; we did everything that we possibly could for her."
"I know that you did, I'll be there as soon as possible," Carbine said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Another fallen Freedom Fighter," Throttle said grimly. "When will we finally stop losing our friends and loved ones because of the Plutarkians?"
When Carbine and Throttle arrived back at the lab, Harley's body had been covered with a sheet. There wasn't a dry eye in the building. Vinnie was noticeably absent.
"He took off on his bike after they pronounced Harley dead," Torque said, her voice choked with sobs.
"I'm worried about him," Charley said as she wiped tears from her eyes. "I don't think that he will deal with her death too well."
"Modo wanted to follow him but he was upset himself," Torque informed them. "I told him that I didn't think that he was in any condition to go looking for Vinnie."
"I'll send out a search party to look for Vinnie," Carbine said. "I'm concerned that he might not be stable right now. He's very vulnerable and may run up on one or more of those bounty hunters. He might even run up on Mace. There's no telling what might happen, especially with Vinnie being as hot-headed as he is."
"One Martian death is one too many. I won't have another one on my watch."